ABTTF President: ‘Stylianidis is accusing us of Turkish nationalism because we want the recognition of our identity, once again he puts us on the target board’.
New Democracy Party (NDP) Rodopi MP Evripidis Stylianidis delivered statements targeting the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Talking at an event regarding the development of Western Thrace on 25 November 2020 organized by AHEPA Hellas which is known worldwide for its activities with respect to the Greek community, Stylianidis alleged that the issues in Western Thrace are caused by Turkish nationalism.
Dora Bakoyannis, Chairman of the Inter-Party Commission for the Development of Thrace, which was established in the Parliament, and Commission member NDP Rodopi MP Evripidis Stylianidis talked about the Commission’s activities in the meeting broadcasted live on Facebook via Zoom, which was also followed by ABTTF.
Stylianidis said that they are building an open and democratic society in Western Thrace which respects human and minority rights as its biggest advantage, claiming that the problems in the region are caused by Turkish nationalism. Stylianidis added the following in his speech: ‘I would like it to be known to all our friends in the world that there have never been any issues with respect to fundamentalist approaches in Thrace. That is because there is absolute freedom. When there was a problem, these problems were caused by Turkish nationalism. It wasn't the problems caused by Islamic fundamentalism. Religious freedoms have been fully implemented. This gave our Muslim citizens confidence. If you pay attention, you will see that our Muslim citizens are equally involved in economic, political and other fields’.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘Stylianidis is right to say that our region is a calm and peaceful region. Indeed, we have always been lovingly bound to our country, we have never been unfaithful. We slept as Turk during the Cyprus problem and woke up as Muslim in the morning. However, we have always existed here as Turks and we will continue to exist. All we want today is for our identity to be recognised, our rights to be reinstated. Stylianidis is accusing us of Turkish nationalism and once again putting us on the target board because we are fighting for this. Our country which prides itself in being the cradle of democracy ignores democracy when it is about us. The expression that religious freedoms are fully implemented in our region is groundless. Today, our right to choose our religious leaders i.e. muftis have been taken from us. Muftis that we have elected are being punished on grounds of usurping the office of mufti. The administration of our charitable foundations (waqfs) has also been taken away from us. The administration of our religious schools is left to government-appointed muftis which we do not recognise. Isn’t it distorting the facts to say that religious freedoms are fully implemented under these circumstances?’
